“I promise, little man. Just get clean.”
He nodded emphatically.
Maybe there was time to run? Maybe she could grab him and get into the car and—a heavy knock killed that hope.
The wolf was literally at the door.
Chapter Three
“Emmie, it’s me. Open the door,” Drew said when there was no response to his knock.
Maybe he should’ve taken some time to think about what he wanted to say, but he was struck with sudden need to chase her down.
He recognized that need for what it was, the urge to claim her. Mark her. Turn her. Make her his mate.
But he couldn’t.
He had a duty to his pack to mate where his Alpha directed.
Growing up, he’d always known his duty, and it had never been a burden until this very moment. If she was his mate, why hadn’t he had the urge to claim her until now?
The answer flirted with the knowledge brewing in the back of his brain, the thing he didn’t want to know.
It was because the boy he’d called a terrible little bastard was his son.
The realization rang true and the knowledge locked itself in his brain, but he still needed to hear her say it.
And he needed to know if he’d transformed. If he hadn’t, this was going to be an awkward conversation. But it couldn’t be coincidence that she’d ended up in Den Hollow.
“Emmie, we really need to talk.” Her fear turned his stomach. His wolf rose up to protect her, but he had to push it down. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
The door opened a crack and his instinct was to push it open, charge in and—he had to smash those thoughts down with the same ruthlessness he had his wolf or they’d both overpower his humanity.
He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile and the door opened wider.
Goddess, but she was beautiful. Even more so now that he knew she’d borne his child, that her soft, curvy body had nurtured his young. His emotions roiled like a tempest. All the things he’d missed… his birth. His first words. His first laugh. Drew missed out on providing for him, keeping him safe.
Keeping her safe.
His throat constricted. It would be so much easier if he could be angry with her. But he wasn’t. Even if she’d tried to find him, he hadn’t told her who he really was. He was Andrew Phillips to her, not Drew Woolven.
“Do you promise you won’t hurt me?” Her voice was soft, but the look she gave him was razor sharp.
“I swear, Emmie.”
“I suppose you should come in, then.” She stood to the side and he noticed she had small, chocolate handprints all over her pink t-shirt.
Those little prints made him smile as did the scents inside the house. It smelled overwhelmingly of her. Of honey and apples, and of a young male wolf. His pup.
Drew didn’t know how to begin. “It’s good to see you.”
And it was. Every part of him hungered for her. Her scent was immediately more vital than the oxygen that carried it, her very space in the world had become something holy to him.
He was so fucked.
She pursed her lips and looked down at her feet. “I never thought I’d see you again.”
“I guess I should ask the question.” He reached out and tentatively lifted her chin so she had to look at him. “Is he my son?”
Her eyes were wide, luminous. He saw the waters of Santorini in their depths. He wanted to buy that hotel where they stayed, own that piece of beach and never leave. He didn’t want to think about his duty to his brothers, to his pack.
Only her.
And his son.
“Yes,” she confessed with a heavy sigh. “Yes.”
The resignation in her manner tore at him as her shoulders slumped. He reached out and pulled her against him. She came willingly, but gingerly. As soon as his arms closed around her, everything was right in the world.
When she relaxed against him, returned his embrace, it was like turning on the sun when he hadn’t realized the light was gone.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” she mumbled against his shirt.
“That you had to do this alone. But that’s over now.”
“Andrew—” Her tone carried a soft warning.
“You don’t have to be with me. This doesn’t have anything to do with us. I’m not going to try to control you or hurt you, I just want to provide for my son.”
“You didn’t even ask for a paternity test.” She broke away from him. “How are you so sure? I could say the Elf King of Magar is the father.”
“Do you know the Elf King of Magar?” He lifted an eyebrow.
The question seemed to give her pause. “I, well… no. But, you understood the spirit of the comment.”
Drew smiled. “I don’t need a paternity test. I know he’s mine.”
“Then why did you ask?”
“I needed to hear you say it.” He exhaled heavily, unsure of how to proceed. The wolf in him wanted to drag her and Noah to Aphelion, his family’s estate, lock them up so he knew they were safe. Wanted Mrs. Westwood to give the boy a decent haircut…
But locked up was no way to live for man or wolf, and Emmie wasn’t the kind of woman who’d respond to caveman knuckle-dragging demands.
“There’s a reason you ended up in Den Hollow. You know what kind of community this is, right?”
She bit her lip and nodded slowly.
“I want you to move in to Aphelion.” He held up his hand to cut her off before she could argue. “We can do it all legal and pretty, stating your rights, my rights, and what I’ll provide for you and Noah.”
Emmie shook her head. “I can’t do that.”
“I know this is a lot to take in. It’s a lot for me, too. But we have laws, Emmie. Laws designed to keep us from discovery.” He willed her to understand, as he didn’t want to spell it out. It would sound like a threat and he supposed in a way, it was. But he wasn’t the one doing the threatening.
Any human that discovered them had to be Turned or exterminated. Otherwise, they’d end up with more hunters on their hands. There were special circumstances like those living in Den Hollow, but they were humans who’d been exposed to other supes and were in no danger of revealing their existence or becoming hunters.
“Who am I going to tell?” She wrung her hands, and he could see fear in her eyes.
Since the Woolvens were currently at war—the wolf nations were split down the middle—it was even odds the Great Council would vote to exterminate Emmie just as easily as Turn her. He had to protect her.
“It’s not my call and the climate right now for friendly humans is—” He was cut off as a small, exploding rocket of fur barreled into his gut knocking him to the ground.
A high-pitched sound that he was sure was supposed to be a growl issued from the snarling, snapping, adorable ball of golden ferocity.
Emmie gasped. “Noah Phelan Anderson!”
The tiny jaws froze around his fingers and giant, amber eyes peeked out from the furry little face.
Dear Goddess, he was utterly unmanned and unwolfed by the riot of emotions that surged in him. He was both humbled and proud, and filled with love and utter devotion for the little creature. Bowl haircut and all.
He picked him up, teeth still latched, and he dangled in the air. It was almost cartoonish. Drew gently withdrew his fingers and held him up higher, inspecting him, before pulling him close and stroking his head and back.
“I… he does that a lot.” Emmie held her hands out for him.
“What are you going to do when those teeth get sharper?” He continued the soothing strokes. “What are you going to do when he’s sixteen?”
She swallowed hard. “I don’t know.”
“Are you going to chain him up? Lock him away so he doesn’t hurt people and in process, damage his wolf and his soul irreparably?” The idea of that was like a chainsaw to his insides.
“I told you, I don’t know,” she snapped. Emmie scrubbe
d a hand over her face and then exhaled heavily. “I’ve just gotten somewhere that feels like it’s safe.”
“But it’s not. Not really. Aphelion, however, is as safe as you could ever be. Think it over. Our witch can bespell him so he only Changes if his life is in danger. All of the Woolven children are introduced to their Change in stages so they can control it. So we can live in the human world, too. You can give that to him.”
“You said I could think about it, but you’re acting like you need an answer right now. I don’t know you, Andrew. He doesn’t know you.”
“You knew me in Santorini.”
“You didn’t even give me your real name,” she accused.
“And if I had, if you knew I was Drew Woolven, would you have given me the time of day?”
At this she gave him a small smile. “No, I’d have assumed you could buy the time of day, if you wanted it. No reason to get it from me.”
“I have to ask, did you know then what the Woolven name means? Beyond Woolven Industries.”
She pursed her lips. “Yes.”
“How?”
“I’m not ready to tell you that.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
The fuck? What was that supposed to mean? She knew about werewolves? That meant she’d either been raised in a family that was friendly, had recessive wolf genes…
Or there was one other, unthinkable option.
She was a hunter.
That Emmie knew who he was all along, knew exactly what she was doing and now she was in Den Hollow to—his wolf cut the thought off before he could finish it.
No.
It wouldn’t even let him consider she’d betray him.
“Please give him back.”
The tenor of fear in her voice twisted the knife and, when he looked down, he had a naked five-year-old boy in his arms.
The boy smiled up at him, his eyes so wide. “Mama says I have to say sorry for biting, but I didn’t like that you scared her.”
He didn’t think his heart could feel any fuller, but somehow it did. “I don’t like that, either.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “You were at the chocolate store with the rainbow glitter lady.”
“I was. You ate all my favorite truffles.”
The boy didn’t seem fazed. Instead, his little nose twitched, almost like a rabbit. “You smell like me.” He turned his head to Emmie. “Is he like me, Mama?”
Emmie looked at him for direction, but then her spine straightened and she squared her shoulders. “He’s your daddy.”
Noah looked back at Drew and nodded solemnly. “Mama isn’t like us, so we mustn’t scare her. Understand? It’s not nice.”
His brows crashed together. “Neither is eating all of the champagne truffles and rubbing them in your hair.”
“Not. Nice.”
Apparently, Noah wasn’t going to let him off the hook. Already, he exhibited hyper-Alpha tendencies. It would be interesting to see the dynamic if Randi and Blake’s offspring were also Alpha-born.
“No, I promise I won’t scare your mama.”
“Now, that’s settled, so will you please finish your bath? And no bare butts or furry time in front of company.”
“He’s not company. He’s Daddy.” The boy struggled to get down and scampered down the hallway back to the bathroom.
Emmie sighed.
“He’s amazing, Em.” Drew supposed if he were just a man instead of a wolf, this would be so much more overwhelming, upsetting, any number of things. But his wolf recognized his own and it was simple enough to him.
The boy was his. His child, his pup, part of his pack.
“I always wondered what it would be like if I ever saw you again. How I’d tell you, if I’d tell you…”
She seemed to want to say more, so he waited while she found the words.
“This isn’t what I expected at all. I’m relieved and terrified at the same time.” She took a few steps toward the kitchen, then back, pacing as she spoke. “I thought his, um, condition, might have been something in my gene pool. But it wasn’t, was it? It was always you. That’s what scares me. This Aphelion where you want me to go? They’re all like you, aren’t they? I’m a human. I’d be a lamb among wolves.”
“Yet, you came to Den Hollow. A place filled with witches, werewolves, and all other manner of terrors that walk the night.”
“The people here are just people. Trying to live their lives. Support their families and they’re safe in the long shadow of Woolven.”
“Only they’re not. Not as safe as they could be. They can all protect themselves from our enemies. But not you. Noah’s not big enough yet, but Goddess knows he’d try. He’s already exhibiting Alpha tendencies. He’s the Woolven heir. Consider what that means. He’s in danger and so are you.”
Her eyes widened.
“Are you trying to scare me to get your way?”
“Of course I am.” He laughed softly. “Because it’s all true. I want you safe. I want him safe.”
She pursed her lips and looked up at the ceiling. “Do you remember that night I told you about my ex-husband?”
He was glad he’d had practice holding back the Change under duress. Just the thought of the bastard made Drew want to rip the man’s head off with his bare hands.
She continued, seemingly unaware of his internal conflict. “I will never give up my control to someone else. Not even to feel safe. Because it’s not safety, it’s a cage.”
He exhaled heavily. “I want you to think about that, Emmie. About what you just said.”
“About a cage?” she whispered, her voice breaking.
“Yeah. Think about that. Isn’t it worth a big yard with a gilded fence to make sure you never have to put your son in a cage?” He hoped logic would win out, or he’d go old school if he had to and drag her kicking and screaming to Aphelion.
“You bastard,” she hissed.
“Am I a bastard because I’m honest, because you don’t like what I have to say, or because it’s true?” His questions were all rhetorical, Drew needed to buy them both more time. He needed to talk to his brother.
Drew knew Blake would welcome Noah and Emmie with open arms, but it was going to be a hard sell to form an alliance with another powerful wolf pack with his child and that child’s mother in residence. But he needed them safe. Breslin, de la Luna, Remus; their agents could be anywhere.
Even Aphelion.
As evidenced by Hector Luna’s infiltration of Woolven lands and the night he almost murdered Randi.
His wolf rose, but he clamped down on the animal and his baser, darker nature and held it in check.
“I don’t know how to be any clearer. Either you’re not listening to me or you don’t care. I am afraid of you, Andrew. Is that highlighted enough for you?” Emmie’s arms were crossed over her chest again, like she was hugging herself.
“Because of what I am?”
“Because you’re male. You want to dominate and control. Already, you’re trying to manipulate me to get your way.”
“Because it’s best.” He didn’t understand why she couldn’t see the logic. She was an intelligent woman. Moving to Aphelion for safety made sense. One plus one equaled two. Or, in this case, three.
“Best for you. I don’t think it’s best. Why do you get to decide?”
Understanding dawned. Of course she was afraid. Her ex-husband had manipulated, threatened and abused her. She didn’t trust her own judgement when it came to men and her instinct was to retreat. He didn’t want her to feel like some cornered rabbit. She wasn’t prey, she was to be honored, cherished, and adored.
He gave a careless shrug that he hoped would lighten the tension. “Because I didn’t have any input for the first five years. You owe me a big one.”
When she didn’t respond, he spoke again. “I didn’t say it had to be tomorrow, just let me know it’s on the table.”
“I want to believe you. I want to believe that you’re only trying to do the right thing, t
he best thing. For Noah. And if you were Andrew Phillips, maybe I would. But you’re not. You’re Drew fucking Woolven. You take down companies that get in your way, devour them. You play hard and fast with the jet set crowd—”
“It is my deepest regret to inform you that’s all hype, manufactured for the gossip rags and to keep society focused on our scandals rather than the truth of who and what we are. Did you see harems of women when I was on Santorini? I just wanted to read and eat.”
She canted her head. “Don’t tell me you’re not a predator.”
He couldn’t help the smile that curved his lips. “Oh, I’m definitely a predator. But I’m not an Alpha. I’m just your average second stringer.”
“Bullshit.”
“Maybe.” He nodded. “But don’t shut me out. He’s my son, too. I want to be his father. I want to be part of his life.” A man in his position with his assets could easily take her to court and get sole custody. But the idea of that was so abhorrent to both man and wolf, it wasn’t even an option. “He’s our son,” he reiterated. “We’re supposed to do this together.”
“Give us time, okay?”
“I don’t know that we have it, Emmie. But I’ll give you as long as I can.”
“What does that mean?”
“Maybe I can tell you when you tell me how you knew about the Woolven Secret.” He knew it was time to make his exit. Anything else now would be lamenting the point. “I’m trusting you not to run from me. I’m trusting you to give me a fair shot.”
“And I’m trusting you not to kill me.”
Chapter Four
Drew left Emmie’s little house on Bug Boot Lane, the name of the street courtesy of Eleanor Westwood’s niece, and immediately dialed Blake.
“We have a situation,” he said when Blake answered.
“Don’t tell me we have another one of those bastards running around with an immunity to silver. No, wait. Let me guess. An invasion of bone fairies? Because last time—”
He shuddered thinking about the bone fairies. Nasty fuckers. “No. There’s a Woolven heir.”
Blake coughed. “What? Excuse me? It’s not—Damn Parker. I told you someone should’ve had the talk with him about the birds, bees, and puppies.”
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